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Autonomous Cars? How About Autonomous Bikes?
R3d M3rcury writes: So we've all heard about the brave new world of autonomous cars which will be at our beck-and-call. But how about an autonomous bike? The i-Bike (not to be confused with the iBike computer) is the winner of KPIT Sparkle 2016, the All India Science and Engineering Student Contest. It started off as a bicycle suitable for use by people with disabilities. If you could use a smartphone, you could ride a bike. But the developers realized that this could be part of a bike-sharing system. You could rent a bike at the train station, ride to work, and then have the bike automatically return to the train station for the next person. Of course, the obvious question is: Will the bike stop at stop signs?
An automated propulsion system superior the the abilities of human riders.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
If that's the case - how shall I get back from work, especially if I have a flexible working schedule?
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Of course, the obvious question is: Will the bike stop at stop signs?
That depends, is its goal as a self-driving vehicle to imitate a self-driving car, or move like a human is controlling it?
I can't believe how long it took me to notice the training wheels.
This reminds me of that app called 'Yo' that got funded.
All it did was send the word 'Yo' to the recipient. That was the app. No joke, the developers claimed the Israeli Military wanted to use a version of it to alert citizens of possible rocket attacks.
Thank you Dave Raggett
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Of course, the obvious question is: Will the bike stop at stop signs?
Why is that an obvious question?
Why wouldn't it stop at stop signs?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
They wanna drive on the street but not obey the rules of the road. Then, they play the pedestrian card if they get in an accident with a car,
Actually more people on bicycles means better safety, and less cars on the roads, peoples tendency to break traffic rules and laws are not linked to their mode of transportation. Lots of people drive too fast in a 30 km/h (20mph) zone, even though that is the most likely scenario for a car to kill someone, at 50 mph your kill rate is above 90% when you hit a pedestrian. When it's the people speeding that actually kill and hurt I think "playing pedestrian card" seems legit, speed matters a lot.
With that said in a recent study of 5 years of accidents there was no incident were a bicycle was hit by a car at a red light. Traffic lights are there because cars are just really bad at sharing intersections, which is the most important part of making a traffic system work. Bicycles and pedestrians do not need traffic lights, so I think cycling and walking past traffic lights is something good.
So when a car (autonomous or otherwise) DOES hit and kill a rider of an autonomous bike following all roadway rules, how long are they going to be in business for? Even if liability is on the car, people are going to ask (pointedly, in front of a jury) why it doesn't do sanity checks to ensure it won't be hit, not just checks that it's following the laws. It's going to further raise questions of why not use an app to summon an autonomous car instead, in which you can lie down and take a nap, and be reasonably certain that your brain won't be skidded across the pavement if you take a slight graze from something or other. Cars are going to get smaller once autonomous car-hailing becomes the standard way of using cars, as there's no anxiety of "what if I need to haul 7 people plus 2 tons of gravel" when deciding what vehicle you want to pick you up right now, and the owners of these hailed cars will prefer smaller, cheaper, more energy-efficient vehicles.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
There is a reason why Google chose cars for their "driverless thing-a-ma-gigs" project: it is a much more constrained problem space than other more practical but higher liability areas, like automated trucks, or automated helicopters. Cars have safety features, they are designed for passenger comfort, the insurance model is relatively simple. Going down a steep incline, cars don't need to recognize runaway truck ramps. They don't have to understand overpass height markings. And people can't put a car on their shoulder and walk off.
and complain that they have the right of way?
Could they not have cleaned it up before taking pictures. So many wires, a wrench hanging off the front, it looks a mess. They could have at the very least wrapped it with tape, and made some sort of cover for the back.
decide to throw the yokes of humankind, and decide to organize in huge masses a friday every month, terrorizing motorists.
Bicycle built for two?
In urban contexts the sight of autonomous bicycles stopping at signals, not blasting through crowds of pedestrians, and not darting through traffic from unexpected directions is going to feel downright weird, especially if they are being used for courier deliveries. We're going to have to program in some Bay Area behavior so they blend in more. It would be like having a "BMW mode" on your autonomous car.
Computers taking over a car (and having doors for government or hackers) is scary enough, but now a bicycle? if that that starts, it may become mandatory. Imagine someone being able to lock your brakes from remove. I like my bicycles the way I like my legs: computer free. What's next, shoes?
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
Sorry, that should read "lock your brakes from REMOTE". my bad.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
How about autonomous people?
Something that is a real problem to most people with disabillities... and a lot of normal over 40 with shitty eyes too.
First of all: No such thing as "Artificial Intelligence", it's all 'expert systems' of one sort or another, and second of all: know what happens to human beings who have fewer and fewer things to do and less and less reasons to do anything? They get sick and die. Humans need a purpose, preferably something physical, or their bodies and minds decay and die. We don't need 'autonomous bicycles', 'autonomous cars', or 'autonomous' anything. We need people to LEARN things, and DO things, and be active, mentally and physically. I'll be glad when this whole 'autonomous' fad is past, just like I'll be glad when the 'drone' thing goes away.
"Of course, the obvious question is: Will the bike stop at stop signs?"
And yet 99.9% of pedestrian injuries and deaths are caused by motor vehicle drivers, who also blow through stop signs and run red lights.
Where were the jokes about autonomous cars running red lights, and how cities won't be the same without cars speeding, running red lights, not stopping for pedestrians, double parking, making turns without yielding to oncoming traffic, etc?
When a bicyclist doesn't stop for a pedestrian, they bump and (both, probably) fall down. When a car doesn't stop for a pedestrian, the pedestrian ends up in the hospital, or dead.
A bicycle costs $500, emits no pollution, uses little roadway, doesn't cause wear and tear on infrastructure, generates no noise, and provides health benefits. An autonomous car costs....probably $100,000 minimum, uses a huge amount of energy/emits pollution, causes wear and tear on infrastructure, generates a lot of noise, and results in more sedentary behavior.
Do we really think the future is 200 bicycles for the price of one autonomous car?
Please help metamoderate.
Do we need to sprinkle technology on EVERYTHING...
Sorry hipsters, but grown ups want cars.
What is this need for autonomous X vehicle.
If you don't want to drive, the technology exists, it's called cabs. other countries even have other things, some are human powered, some are animal powered.
Not only that, this is an industry that gives people jobs.
I was thinking "Street Hawk"... but then I saw the pictures.
So... not Street Hawk then?!
I count four wheels, not two.
"Knock the stones together, guys!"
Put a box on top - with a large wheel can even go up stairs - deliver packages - less energy than drone delivery...